CME Group Sees Diminishing FX Volumes in December 2017‎

CME Group (NASDAQ: CME), the holding company for CBOT, NYMEX, and COMEX exchanges, has just released its Options Monthly Review for the month ending December 31, 2017, which showed a mixed performance across the group’s six product lines, according to a CME statement.

On an aggregated basis, CME’s ADV total option was lower by 5 percent year-over-year, coming in at 2,990,014 per day.

During December 2017, total FX options averaged 63,068 contracts per day, which represented a rise of only one percent year-on-year from 62,567 contracts per day in December 2016. Across a monthly interval, the latest figures reported a 24 percent drop from 83,402 contracts per day in November 2017.

Delving into details, EUR/USD options were lower after shedding 6 percent year-on-year with just 30,707 contracts traded daily, while CAD/USD and GBP/USD options climbed 62 percent and 69 percent respectively compared to last year.

Despite low Volatility Volatility In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, or stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Trad In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, or stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Trad Read this Term, FX options averaged 77,838 contracts/day in 2017, up 8 percent in 2016.

During the reported period, CME Group’s average daily equity index options volumes pointed higher, coming in at 656,542 contracts for the month, up by 2 percent from 644,903 in the same period last year. In addition, the figure reflects a similar downbeat performance on the monthly basis, shedding nearly 13.0 percent compared to 757,609 in the prior month.

In terms of metals options, the holding company for CBOT, NYMEX, and COMEX exchanges averaged 45,988 contracts per day last month, which is higher by 16 percent when compared to last year’s figures. Relative to November, CME saw an improved ADV of 8.8 percent month-over-month from 42,548 contracts in the month prior.